Case Number 11240

BENEATH STILL WATERS

The Charge

Fear is rising.

Opening Statement

This Spanish horror film blends together the genre excesses of Satanic
exploitation with the subtle conventions of Christian Slater's Hard
Rain.

Facts of the Case

Forty years ago, the town of Marinbad was overrun with scummy devil
worshippers, led by the evil Mordecai Salas (Patrick Gordon). Salas introduced
the dark arts to the simpletons of the village, and bit by bit the whole place
was enveloped in bad mojo. Eventually, an enterprising town official squelched
the Satanism and to make sure the evil stayed put, dammed up the neighboring
lake to drown the town.

Now, on the eve of the anniversary of the flooding, evil has resurfaced, and
Salas is back, weaving his darkness into the descendants of the man who
imprisoned him. Teresa Borgia (Raquel Mereno) and her daughter Clara (Charlotte
Salt) find themselves roped into the occult nightmare, and along with Alpha male
diver Dan Quarry (Mike McKell), they will try to bring down Salas once and for
all.

The Evidence

I suppose if you dig the demonic, occult, devil-worshipping thing, you might
get a kick out of Beneath Still Waters, but this laborious trek of a film
did little to grab me.

To be fair, the movie picked up steam at about the 45-minute mark, but to
get to the nitty-gritty of the Satanism and the death and all the crazy crap
that horror fans crave, you'll have to suffer through much talking (with little
exposition I might add) and contrived suspense buildups. Eventually, Salas and
his sorcery takes center stage and the film goes to some weird and dark places,
but I fear that interest in how the story plays out will have subsisted by that
point; it did for me at least.

Let's try and keep this review at least fairly positive and look at some of
the plusses of the film, before lambasting it any further. First, the affair
kicks on a decidedly morbid note. Two young kids wander into Marinbad prior to
its submersion and find Salas and his cabal. One of the boys makes the mistake
of freeing Salas -- thus setting in motion the events that will come to fruition
by the end of the film -- and Salas rewards him by ripping his head off at the
jaw. That's hardcore. You rarely see that level of violence inflicted on a child
in horror movies. Unfortunately, the film fails to build off this shock and gets
mired in character development of characters that aren't very interesting. When
the Satanic shenanigans do make a reappearance, it's long-awaited and
appreciated. Undead demon zombies start showing up to cause havoc and several
people get wasted in unique ways (one lady is swallowed whole by swamp fungus
and another guy is levitated and hamstrung by Salas). A few stupid scenes are
tossed into the mix as well, the standout being a fully-nude woman about to go
skinny-dipping who runs into her dead and decomposing boyfriend and for some
reason starts having sex with him until she eventually realizes that he's gross
and maggoty.

The sequence everyone will likely be talking about at the water cooler is
the wild orgy scenes. At a big party, the evilness of the submerged town somehow
makes it out of the depths and starts infecting the party-goers. With their
inhibitions evaporated, everyone starts having wild sex with each other and
covering their naked bodies in cake frosting. So fans of orgies and baked goods,
rejoice, your dream movie is here.

Before I wrap this up, here are a couple of elements that hurt the film for
me. One is the CGI work. The traditional make-up effects are actually quite
good, but when the computer generated visual effects hit the screen, prepare to
be taken right out of the film. These occur when Dan makes his dives to check
out the village. All the underwater stuff is CGI as well as some various action
shots including the diver. None are believable and look bad even for early '90s
work. Secondly, and this is the biggie, the plot just isn't that great. At the
one hour mark, you'll get a fistful of exposition in one sitting, a clumsy
narrative tactic, but really, Beneath Still Waters is nothing but the
typical evil-dude-returns-to-see-revenge dreck. Salas is a bad guy and he looks
creepy but his intentions are uninteresting and the protagonists battling
against him are one-dimensional fodder.

The DVD stands purely on its tech merits, which are decent: a 1.78:1
anamorphic widescreen transfer and 5.1 Dolby digital surround. No extras
hurt.

Closing Statement

Beneath Still Waters has its moments and for the hardcore there is
some real horror to be found here. A slipshod narrative, crap CGI and
unappealing characters, however, bumps the film out of contention for a flat
recommendation.